Crashes in cycling are always scary. This season, though, it seems like there are more, scarier crashes than usual. Whether that’s Debora Silvestri and a group of women falling over a barrier and onto a driveway at Milan-San Remo, Tom Pidcock crashing into the woods unseen at 60 kph or, well, there’s been a bunch. And it’s only June.
Oscar Onley’s crash during the sixth stage of the Tour Auvergne Rhône-Alpes is a wild one. The Ineos rider crashed during a fast descent towards Friday’s final climb, Crest-Voland, only ten kilometres from the end of the stage. Team manager David Brailsford told Wielerflits that, when the team arrived on scene, only Onley’s bike was still visible.
“It could have ended much worse.”
The rider? Literally suspended in the air on the branches of a tree. Beyond the tree a deep ravine plunged out of sight.
“Fortunately, Oscar landed in the crowns of a tree during his fall. As a result, he didn’t end up in a ravine dozens of meters deep,” Brailsford recounted. “Our men from the team manager’s car, together with people from the organisation, were able to very carefully hoist him back up from that tree. In that regard, he was incredibly lucky. It could have ended much worse.”
While Onley is lucky his crash wasn’t worse, it was still the end of his run at Auvergne. The Ineos rider finished the stage, but withdrew from the race. The team reports his suffered a dislocated shoulder and what Ineos described as “Leg wounds.”
Tarling out earlier in same stage
While Onley’s crash is certainly the most sensational, it wasn’t the only crash or injury for Ineos on Friday. Earlier in the stage, Josh Tarling hit the deck. He also leaves the race with a fractured clavicle.
All of this puts Ineos under pressure, with the Tour de France looming on the horizon